Transporting and setting-up drum sets is a time consumer and clumsy task which can cause damage to the drum set resulting in additional costs. Drums are large and the “heads” are fragile both in regard to structure and tuning issues. It is the desire of every drummer who plays professionally, semi-professionally, weekend warriors or bar gig players to dramatically reduce the number of items needed to bring to the venue, saving space to transport and time to set up and break down.
The current and/or most commonly used standard for tuning drums is best depicted by U.S. Design Pat. Fuji D350,362 referred to as the drum hoop. It includes a plurality of evenly spaced holes for bolts to be inserted through, in order to exert tension on the drum head, and having an overall shape designed to fit over the drum head. U.S. Design Pat. D339,818 provides an example of lugs which are fastened to the drum shell and/or serve as anchors for the bolts inserted through the drum hoop previously described.
Using traditional drum hoops and methods, to evenly apply tension to the drum head to set the correct pitch takes a great amount of time and skill, often being time consuming and frustrating. To deal with this problem, systems for tuning drums have been proposed to simplify this common task. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,218,952 is comprised of a large counter-hoop with a plurality of inward facing slides angled to act as ramps which ride on rollers or matching opposing slides fastened to the drum shell. It is tuned by rotating the counter-hoop clockwise or counterclockwise using a rack and pinion activation system. U.S. Pat. No. 5,719,448 is comprised of an inverted J-shaped counter-hoop, which engages an externally threaded, outwardly facing tuning rim surface on a tuning collar that is secured to the drum shell. Clockwise or counterclockwise rotation of the counter-hoop is accomplished by a pair of gears, one for gross tuning, and/or one for fine tuning. U.S. Pat. No. 7,777,112 uses an outer ring attached to the drum shell with threads on the inner diameter. An inner ring which has a thread on the outside diameter engages the outer ring's threads. A lower inner ring which is separated by ball bearings rides on the rim of the drum head. Rotating the inner ring increases or decreases the tension on the drum head.
Tuning was described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,138,574, having three annular members o-rings. The first annular member is the cam ring, which utilizes a single spiraling track or helical around its outside diameter, starting at the top of the spiral cam ring, spiraling down and exiting at the bottom, and is fastened to the cylindrical drum shell in the vicinity near the open end of the drum shell. The second ring is a smaller inner counter-hoop having vertical and horizontal surfaces which form an L cross section. The third ring is a larger outer rotating actuator ring having an inward facing horizontal surface atop the vertical surface forming an inverted cross section and encompasses the spiral cam ring parallel to the spiral track or helical at its outside diameter. Inward facing rollers or wheels mounted on its vertical surface of the inside diameter engages the track or helical of the cam ring. The rotating actuator's inverted L cross section overlaps the L cross section of the inner counter-hoop, and the two rings are separated by bearings or rollers to reduce friction while twisting the rotating actuator ring clockwise or counterclockwise. The camming effect increases or decreases the downward force on the inner counter-hoop which bears down on the outer rim of the drum head when fitted over the open end of the drum shell, thereby tuning the drum. Further, U.S. Pat. No. 7,501,567, includes a method for attaching the tuning system to a drum shell and uses eccentrics on the lugs to raise and/or lower the cam ring. A horizontal radius plate with holes for a drum stick is included to engage and/or be used as a leverage point stationary in relation to the drum shell. In the '567 patent a tool was devised which hooked on “cleats” mounted on the lower vertical walls of the rotation actuator ring. A drum stick can be used for leverage against the tool while engaging the holes in the stationary radius plate and thereby facilitates movement of the rotating actuator ring, which in turn tunes the drum.
There still exists today the need for a drum system that provides packaging and transportation efficiency to save time and space while providing an effective means of tuning upon assembly.